Field
The present invention relates generally to sensor interfaces, and more specifically to an extensible sensor interface that is capable of handling partially or fully sensor-independent data requests.
Background
It is becoming common for handheld mobile devices (hereafter, “mobile devices”) to incorporate one or more physical sensors. By way of example, the types of mobile devices that may incorporate a number of physical sensors include: telephones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), game and other equipment controllers, watches, and bio-feedback devices. The types of physical sensors that these devices may incorporate include, but are not limited to: barometric pressure sensors, accelerometers, magnetic field sensors (e.g., compasses), gyroscopes, and biometric sensors. As defined herein, a “physical sensor” is any sensor that is capable of measuring a physical phenomena and providing an output signal (typically, a digital electrical signal) that quantifies the physical phenomena. The physical phenomena may be, for example, a temperature, pressure, direction, brightness or heart rate.
As the desire to provide mobile devices with applications that require data from more and varied physical sensors increases, and as the types, models and configurations of physical sensors increase, it is becoming more difficult for application developers to develop applications that can be ported to mobile devices having different hardware platforms (e.g., platforms that incorporate different sets of sensors). On the flip side, it is also becoming more difficult for systems engineers to provide a hardware platform that is capable of supporting a wide variety of applications. As a result, it is common for systems engineers and application developers to work in concert to define a unique set of sensing capabilities and applications for a particular mobile device. Once developed, the unique set of capabilities and applications may be of little use in developing a modified or next-generation device; and the device for which the set of capabilities and applications was developed may not be upgradeable to incorporate new sensing capabilities or applications. A need therefore exists for a more flexible and extensible sensor interface.